Australian Air Force Completes First Stage Of F/A-18F Super Hornet Spiral Upgrade Program

The Royal Australian Air Force’s entire fleet of F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters have completed their first upgrade, as part of the Spiral Upgrade Program under which the fleet will receive incremental capability upgrades. 

The job was finished on budget and two weeks ahead of schedule by the Electronic Attack Enterprise team, consisting of Air Force, Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, Boeing Defence Australia and Raytheon Australia, the RAAF said in a statement Tuesday.

The work was the first stage of the Super Hornet Spiral Upgrade Program under which the fleet will receive incremental capability upgrades. 

The program is being conducted in parallel with the US Navy F/A-18F upgrade program to ensure the technology remains in line with the world’s largest and only other Super Hornet operator. 

The 12-month Increment 1 program delivered updates to the aircraft training system, as well as to software and hardware. 

These included the installation of Navigation Warfare to provide GPS navigation protection, a Distributed Targeting System to enable precision targeting, and an upgraded Solid State Recorder for the cockpit. 

Five separate structural modifications to improve fatigue life and eliminate hazards were incorporated with the hardware upgrades.